A Serious Man [Blu-ray]

Director: Joel Coen, Roger Deakins Joel Coen

Overview

Filmmaking duo Joel and Ethan Coen write, produce, and direct this period black comedy set in 1967 concerning a Midwestern physics professor whose staid and stable life slowly begins to unravel after his wife announces that she's leaving him. As if the failure of his longtime marriage wasn't enough for Larry Gopnik (Tony-nominated Michael Stuhlbarg) to contend with, now his socially inept brother refuses to move out of the house as well. Larry is a modest man of science. Up to this point, his life has been uneventful at best, but things are about to get interesting. When his wife, Judith, announces that she is leaving him to move in with his smug colleague Sy Ableman, Larry does his best to contend with his failed marriage while barely tolerating his unemployable brother, Arthur, who appears to have grown roots on Larry's couch. Meanwhile, Larry's son, Danny, is getting into trouble at Hebrew school, and his daughter, Sarah, is stealthily snatching money from his wallet so she can afford a nose job. As Judith and Sy merrily begin making plans for their new life of domestic bliss together, Larry begins receiving a series of anonymous letters from someone who seems intent on sabotaging his chance for tenure at the university. To further complicate matters, a graduate student with failing grades is attempting to bribe the professor while simultaneously threatening him with a defamation lawsuit. Larry is in some serious need of equilibrium, though it's hard to focus on getting your life in order when your beautiful neighbor insists on sunbathing in the nude just outside your window. Perhaps by seeking the advice of three trusted rabbis, Larry can finally learn to cope with his afflictions and become a genuine mensch. A Serious Man is the second in a two-picture deal that the siblings made with Focus Features and Working Title. The first film in the deal, entitled Burn After Reading and starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Frances McDormand, was released nationwide in September 2008.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/09/2010
UPC:	0025195054393
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	19,573

Special Features

Becoming Serious - Explore the Creative Vision Behind A Serious Man and See Why it's the Coen Brothers' Most Personal Film; ; Creating 1967 - Take a Tour of the Minneapolis Neighborhoods and Set Pieces used in the film; ; Hebrew and Yiddish For Goys - Unravel the Mysteries of the Hebrew and Yiddish Languages

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Stuhlbarg	Larry Gopnik
Fred Melamed	Sy Ableman
Sari Lennick	Judith Gopnik
Amy Landecker	Mrs. Samsky
Alan Mandell	Rabbi Marshak
Fyvush Finkel	Dybbuk
Adam Arkin	Avocat
Allen Lewis Rickman	Shtetl Husband
Yelena Shmulenson	Shtetl Wife
Brent Braunschweig	Mitch Brandt
Simon Helberg	Rabbi Scott
David Kang	Clive Park
Aaron Wolff	Danny Gopnik
Jessica McManus	Sarah Gopnik
Ari Hoptman	Arlen Finkle
Michael Tezla	Dr. Sussman
George Wyner	Rabbi Nachtner
Michael Lerner	Solomon Schultz
Benjamin Portnoe	Danny's Reefer Buddy
Jon Kaminski Jr.	Mike Fagle
Ronald Schultz	Hebrew School Teacher
Charles Brin	Hebrew School Teacher
Stephen Park	Clive's Father
Jane Hammill	Larry's Secretary
Katherine Borowitz	Friend at the Picnic
Claudia Wilkens	Marshak's Secretary
Warren Keith	Dick Dutton,Voices
Peter Breitmayer	Actor

Technical Credits

Joel Coen

Robert Graf	Producer,Executive Producer
Phil Barrie	Sound Effects
Craig Berkey	Sound/Sound Designer
Joel Coen	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Roger Deakins	Director
Jess Gonchor	Producer

Editorial Reviews

With A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen create a jet-black comedy about anxiety and dread so funny -- and so disturbing -- that snack counters should sell Klonopin along with the popcorn. After being informed by his doctor that he's in perfect health, math professor Larry Gopnik's (Michael Stuhlbarg) world quickly unravels. In quick succession, his mentally unstable brother (Richard Kind) moves in, a student offers Larry a bribe for a passing grade, his wife (Sari Lennick) informs him their marriage is over, he receives unexpected angry calls from a Columbia Record Club debt collector, and his teenage kids continue to ignore him, apart from his ability to fix their TV's reception problems. As Larry slowly loses control over his surroundings, he seeks counsel from various rabbis, whose parables offer little help to alleviate his anxiety and fear. Giving away too much more of the plot would be unkind, because experiencing the totality and swiftness with which Larry's life crashes down around him is half the fun of the movie. The Coens fashion a slow-motion existential train wreck where a good and honest man drowns in events that relentlessly grow more outlandish and tragic. And understand that for all the unending pain, there are big laughs throughout -- particularly from Fred Melamed as Larry's wife's new love, Sy Ableman. Whenever Sy speaks to Larry, he offers the most caring and supportive sentiments imaginable, but he delivers them in a voice so lulling and smooth that it hilariously amplifies their insincerity. Yet, for all the belly laughs (including a brilliant joke that gets set up in the first ten minutes but doesn't pay off until nearly the end of the movie), this is at heart a Kafka-esque nightmare. A Serious Man underscores the fact that the Coens are remarkably talented filmmakers -- very few directors could make audiences feel dread and panic this acutely while simultaneously doubling them up with laughter. But it's the unease and not the laughter that the Coens end with, and it's hard to ignore that this is their third film in a row to wrap up with a profound spiritual bummer. The Coen brothers used to temper their skeptical view of people and life with occasional glimpses of positivity -- it's hard to find a more likeable and good-hearted hero than Fargo's Marge Gunderson, unless it's "The Dude." But, A Serious Man finds Joel and Ethan entrenched in pessimism, and that might be the most disquieting aspect of the whole movie.